The toxic legacy of Boomer-blaming
If you had a baby in the new year, congratulations—you’ve given birth to a new generation. According to the Australian research consultancy McCrindle, as of January 2025, babies will no longer be “Gen Alpha” but, somewhat underwhelmingly, “Gen Beta.” Apparently, they’ll be a lot like the “Alphas,” born between 2010 and 2024, but shaped even […]
No, Gen Z is not ‘yearning for fascism’
More than half of British youngsters allegedly ‘believe Britain should be ruled by a dictator’, according to new research from Channel 4. Apparently, Gen Z is ‘yearning for fascism’, led down this path by difficult economic conditions and ‘right-wing grifters’ like Andrew Tate, Nigel Farage and Donald Trump. There is ‘clear evidence of disengagement from democracy’, Channel […]
Generational conflict: are Boomers and Zoomers at war?
My talk for the European Union of Women on 28 January 2025.
The biggest misconceptions about Gen Z, Boomers, & Millennials
I enjoyed taking part in this episode of The Next Generation podcast, with 19-year-old host Elliot Bewick. We discussed everything from generation labels and Boomer-blaming to the Covid lockdowns, depoliticisation, populism, parenting culture and education.
Will our universities ever recover from Covid?
From job losses to course closures, British universities are in meltdown — as panicked institutions are desperately shedding their crumbling 20th century identities. Yet if academics, subjects and even physical buildings all look set to go, with administrators scrambling to be “fit for purpose” in a new world of metrics and edutainment, the sector seems […]
Why do we need to disagree?
Online and offline, on campus and beyond, we are navigating increasingly polarised discussions around questions of opinion, belief, identity, and faith. From military conflicts to the culture wars, it is rare to find a consensus about which side is ‘right’. At the same time, the practice of disagreement is often discouraged, on the grounds that challenging […]
What are boomers like in Spain?
I am quoted in a feature article by Rosanna Carcaller, in La Vanguardia: “The idea that the baby boomer generation is responsible for all the economic, social, and political problems we face today is a myth, constructed by politicians and commentators (…). Blaming the boomers is a toxic mix of anxieties about an aging population, concerns […]
Kirstie Allsopp is right about parental safetyism
The TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp has been reported to social services for allowing her then 15-year-old son Oscar to go on a post-GCSEs interrailing trip with his 16-year-old friend. Earlier this week she posted on X celebrating Oscar’s safe return from his travels, leading to a predictable furore about parental irresponsibility and the dangers of the world out there. She has […]
Keir Starmer’s war on mothers
As their swift suspensions indicated, Keir Starmer can probably cope with a rebellion of “pissed-off” Labour MPs over his failure to commit to scrapping the two-child benefit cap. But when even Suella Braverman, the Right-winger that right-thinkers love to hate, gets in on the act, he must sense trouble brewing. The benefit cap, which prevents parents […]
The pensions ‘quadruple lock’ is not an attack on the young
As the UK Labour Party cuddles up to the youth with a cynical pledge to give votes to schoolchildren, the ailing Tories have doubled down on the grey vote, promising further protections to the state pension via the ‘triple lock plus’, or ‘quadruple lock’. Yes, this may be a shameless bribe from Sunak and Co. But does that mean it’s actually […]